It is not easy to define the logic and the objectives of the Lazy Art events that often edge on the grotesque and absurd. Ulan Japarov, one of the masterminds of the residence, said: ‘Lazy Art is very much like a break between classes at school’

It is not easy to define the logic and the objectives of the Lazy Art events that often edge on the grotesque and absurd. Ulan Japarov, one of the masterminds of the residence, said: ‘Lazy Art is very much like a break between classes at school. We are also doing some tasks, solve problems… with time very few would remember what tasks and what problems, but such breaks help us to become what we are…’

Spontaneous creativity is important in the age of carefully measured and cerebral contemporary art. It can be an elaborate and enigmatic form such as Emil Guzairov’s ‘PseudoPauk’. (Video at the top of the post).

Or it can be a mere glance, a focus of attention, like in Ulan Japarov’s sketch ‘The Shadow’:

Yulia Sorokina presented Astral Nomads, a new and very promising website which may eventually become a hub for informational resources about contemporary Central Asian art.

Lazy Art would have been incomplete without a good dose of experimental videos from Uzbekistan delivered by Oleg Karpov, the curator of several festivals of video art and documentary films, the information about which can be found here.

It is difficult to assess the impact of such events, such informal gatherings of artists and curators, but one thing is clear: if Central Asian art wants to be a force to be reckoned with, wants to acquire its distinctive voice, it cannot remain split and confined to small associations and national artistic circles. The term ‘integration’ has to be re-filled with new meanings.